1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to trackable network services and, more particularly, to a system and method for correlating a user's use of one network service with the user's use of another network service.
2. Description of the Background Art
It is desirable for a business to be able to correlate a user's use of one of its network services with a user's use of another of its network services, as businesses often communicate with potential customers through two or more channels. For instance, a customer may learn about a company's products on the company's website and then call the company to order or further enquire about a particular product.
One reason why correlating a user's use of different network services is desirable is to track the effect of advertising efforts. For example, if a company pays for a link to its website on a search engine site, such as Google or Yahoo, it is desirable for the company to know the percentage of its customers that used that link. Such information is relatively easy to track if the customer purchases a product on a company's website after using an advertised link. However, such information is usually lost if, after viewing the website, the customer elects to purchase the product through a different channel, such as the telephone network.
There are known methods for correlating the use of one network service with use of another network service when a user directly access one network from the other. For instance, one such method involves correlating the use of two websites, where users are required to register at the first website. After registering, the user is assigned a user ID. If a user selects a link to the second website directly from the first website, the registered user's user ID is transmitted directly through the applicable URL to the second website service, possibly embedded within the URL or through the use of shared third-party cookies. When the second website service receives the user ID, it is able to identify that the user initiated contact with it from the first network service. It can then associate the user's activity on the second website service with the same user ID. This method likely is used in a known referral website that provides a user with a rebate for (1) accessing a partner website through the referral website and (2) then purchasing a product on the partner website. The user IDs assigned by the referral website and passed on to the partner website enables one to determine (1) how much commission is due the referring website and (2) which customers of the partner website are entitled to a rebate.
Another such method involves sending a potential customer a personalized email newsletter with links to a website. The links are encoded with specific ID(s) assigned to the user so that such IDs are forwarded to the website service if the user selects the link. Such IDs are used to correlate use of the website with use/reading of the newsletter.
A disadvantage of the foregoing methods is that a user must initiate communication with the second network service through the first network service in order to correlate use of the first and second network services. If a user does not access the second network service through the first network service, any correlation between the two services with respect to that user is lost.
Another prior art method related to linking trackable, personalized network services involves correlating web records of a user with a telephone connection to a user when a user submits a request, through a company's website, to speak to a customer service representative. The telephone request is then associated with the user's web records, and a customer service representative calls the user. When the telephone connection is made between the customer service representative and the user, the customer service representative receives a copy of the web page currently being viewed by the user. This method has a disadvantage similar to that described above in that the user must request telephone service through the website in order to be able to correlate telephone and web interactions. Also, even after an initial correlation of records, any continued correlation of telephone and web records requires that future phone communication be requested from the company's website. If the user later phones the company on his own, the company cannot associate that phone call with previous (or future) web interactions.
One known method of linking a user's use of two trackable, personalized networks together that does not involves accessing one of the networks through the other network is to assign a “customer number” or “member number” to a customer when an order is placed or when a member registers. For instance, this method is sometimes used when a user orders a product over the phone and then later logs onto a website to check the status of the order. However, a customer or member number is something only customers (i.e., people who have purchased products) or members have, and, therefore, it is not provided to every user of a company's network services. Moreover, the records of a user's pre-purchase or pre-registration communications with the company are not tracked and correlated with the user's later purchase or registration.
Therefore, there is a desire for a method that (1) enables correlation of use of two or more network services even if users accesses each network service independently of the other and (2) does not require users to register or purchase products. Furthermore, it is desirable for such method to enable one to link a referral source (such as a promotional link) to one network service with use of another network service.